Donald Trump And The Rage of an Unprivileged Class, Pt. 1

Like a slug in the nation’s political “garden,” Donald Trump leaves destruction in his wake, and a trail of slime that we will have to contend with long after he’s slithered off the scene.

It’s only Wednesday, but Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is already having such a lousy week that there’s speculation he’s looking for a way out, or at least a way to save face. Mired in an argument with the parents of a fallen Muslim-American war hero, and beset by troubling poll numbers, both the candidate and his party appear to be looking for an escape hatch.

If that’s how Trump repays those who went out on a limb to endorse him, maybe Republicans are worried about how he will reward the party that gave him its nomination. Maybe that’s why Republicans are scrambling to find a replacement, out of fear Trump might quit or implode. The party can’t force Trump out, now that he’s the nominee, but if he quit the race, that would give the 168 members of the RNC until September to fill the gap. It may seem far-fetched, but a presidential candidate inviting a foreign country to launch a cyber attack on the US and picking a public fight with a Gold Star family also seemed far-fetched, until last week.

The Republican convention did little to help Trump’s popularity. Instead of giving him the expected “bounce,” the Republican convention put Trump father behind in the polls. A recent Gallup poll found that just 36 percent said they were more likely to vote for Trump after watching the GOP convention, while 51 percent said they were less likely. It was the first time since Gallup started asking in 1984 that a candidate left the convention with a net negative. Previously, conventions left candidates with a net positive of anywhere between a couple of percentage points to 45 points on average.

The election of Barack Obama in 2008 confirmed impending changes that many had perhaps feared. Covertly stoking those fears wasn’t enough to secure victory for Republicans, but the anger that followed gave birth to the tea party movement. The re-election of Barack Obama in 2012 spelled defeat for the restoration of primacy some white conservative voters hoped a Romney victory would bring. The anger that followed, arguably, gave us the Trump phenomenon in full, festering bloom today. Given the pattern following 2008 and 2012, what will happen if Trump loses to Hillary Clinton, or doesn’t even make it to election day?

About Terrance Heath

Terrance Heath is the Online Producer at Campaign for America's Future. He has consulted on blogging and social media consultant for a number of organizations and agencies. He is a prominent activist on LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.